


waffle sundays

by bytheseas



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Canon Divergent, Found Family, One Shot, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27948083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bytheseas/pseuds/bytheseas
Summary: Alex learns that he's a father.  He already has a family.There's a way for him to have all of these things.(An ending more deserving of our dear Evil Spawn than the one he got)
Relationships: Alex Karev/Jo Wilson Karev, Meredith Grey & Alex Karev
Comments: 12
Kudos: 37





	waffle sundays

**Author's Note:**

> just heed the archive warning <3

He’s a father. 

He can’t believe his ears when he gets the call. It’s her voice, on the other end of the line. He had almost forgotten what it sounded like, to hear her voice. A part of him missed it, but it makes him feel sick, hearing her voice now. It hurts, remembering how she left him. 

He leaves for Kansas, to find them. 

He tells everyone he’s going to Iowa, to see his mother, because he can’t quite bring himself to tell anyone about this yet. Not when he doesn't know if it’s real himself. She could be lying to him, again.

They’re beautiful, and they’re his. He knows it, immediately. He can feel it. Alexis hugs him right away -- runs into his arms, pressing his head to Alex’s chest. Eli hesitates, standing a ways back. Eventually he comes closer, and touches his little hand to Alex’s cheek, and something within him melts. 

He didn't know how he would feel. It feels like he has always loved them.

They run off to play outside and it’s then that he looks at Izzie. He can feel the anger, rising. “You kept them from me,” he says. “Five years, Iz. Five years, and you didn’t call, or write, or anything.”

  
“I know,” she says. 

“I loved you,” he tells her, and the words are harsh. He takes a breath. He has to breathe. He can’t let this moment get away from him -- can’t let the anger take over. Not now. 

“You could love me, again, maybe,” she steps closer. “I never forgot about you.”

He steps back. “Except, you did.”

“They need a father,” she says. “We could be a family, Alex. You always wanted a family.”

He thinks of Jo, showing up in his life, turning everything upside down. 

He loves her, present tense. 

He thinks of Zola, and Derek and Ellis. He thinks of Mer, and the sisters, and Waffle Sundays. 

“I already have a family,” his words are softer now, and he feels calmer, somehow, than he did just moments before, just at the thought of them. “I want them, but I don’t want you.” 

She steps back, this time, instantly defensive. “You can’t have them.”

“Not like that. I want a week with them, every season,” He tells her, his voice even. “You can give me that much -- you  _ owe _ me that much.”

Her mouth is pressed in a thin line, but she nods. 

“They don’t know me now, but I want them to. I’d be a good dad, Izzie.”

She deflates, then. “I know you would.”

She doesn’t apologize, but maybe he doesn't need her to. He just nods, and heads into the backyard, to play with his kids. 

\---

He texts Jo, later that night. 

_ I’m okay. I’ll be home in a week. I’ll explain everything then. I love you. _

Her reply comes an hour later.

_ I love you. _

He wants to call, and tell her everything, but he doesn’t have the words and he doesn’t know how to say it if he’s not in person. So he waits. 

They’ve always known how to give each other space. 

\---

He shows up at Meredith’s door the night he gets back, somewhere around midnight. He came straight from the airport. He stands on the doorstep, duffle back by his feet, waiting for her to open it. He’s gross from his flight and tired from lack of sleep, but she’s his sister. 

  
“It’s late,” she says, as she swings the door open, stepping back so he can come inside. She’s in her pajamas, but she’s alert, so he didn’t wake her up.

“Yeah, well, it was a late flight.”

“Does Jo know you’re home?” She heads for the stairs and he follows her, collapsing onto the other side of her bed. The side that belongs to her children, and her sisters, and him.

“I told her I’d be home tomorrow,” he says. 

“So how was Iowa?” 

“I didn’t go to Iowa Mer,,” his voice is quiet. 

She leans over, watching him. Giving him time.

“When I called Izzie, for your trial, she actually picked up,” he continues. “Mer, I have kids. Two of them. She waited for five years to tell me. I might never have known if I didn’t call her.”

“You have  _ kids _ ?” Meredith echoes, in a question. He nods. He pulls up a picture of them on his phone, and she takes it. “Holy shit,” she says. 

“Right.”

“They’re cute,” she says, as she scrolls.

“Well it’s my genes, of  _ course _ they are,” he takes the phone when she hands it back. “She tried to use them to get me to stay there, Mer. She wanted us to be together.”   
  


She raises her eyebrows.    
  


He sighs. “I told her I want them for a week every season, here, with us,” He looks at her. “Am I a shitty father for not staying with them? My dad was shit, I don’t want to be like that for them.”

Meredith takes one of his hands and squeezes it. “Alex, she made you a father without even telling you. She left you. If you want to be in their lives, this will be a great way.” 

  
He squeezes her hand back. “I could never have left you, or Jo, or the kids, or the sisters. This is my home,” it feels too sentimental, too open and vulnerable, even for them, so he ends with: “If I left, who would drive you all crazy.”

She laughs at that, a real laugh, and he grins back at her. 

She’s always going to be his person. 

He drifts off, a while later. 

Zola, Derek, and Ellis pile into the bed the next morning, cuddling between them, reminding Alex how much he was missed, and how much he belongs. 

\---

It’s a month later, when he goes to pick them up for the first visit. He hugs Izzie goodbye, this time. He’s forgiven her, somehow. Maybe it’s for the kids, but maybe it’s for his own wellbeing. Life is too short to hold onto it. 

When he steps off the plane in Seattle, his heart’s beating fast. Alexis and Eli follow behind him, looking around in excitement, taking in their new surroundings. They’re all there -- the sisters, the kids, his wife. He runs to Jo and he throws his arms around her. 

“I love you,” he whispers, so only she can hear. 

She smiles as she kisses him, then steps back. “Where are these kids of yours?” 

He turns to his children. He introduces them, proudly. Zola and Derek rush up to hug them, smothering them, but they’re all laughing. Ellis hangs back, but she’s smiling. 

He finds Meredith’s face, and she smiles back at him, and he can see it right there on her face. 

She’s proud of him. 

\---

A couple months later, it happens.

He’s on his way to buy groceries when he sees it. A car flips over, right in front of his eyes. He calls 911 but they’re not going to get there fast enough.

  
“My baby!” A woman screams, as someone holds her back from the wreck. She’s bloody and he takes in the broken window. She crawled out. 

He can see the child, upside down, screaming. He doesn’t even hesitate before he rushes in, breaking the other window and crawling through. 

He hears the fire before he feels it, the combustion comes before the flames. He can’t run fast enough, there’s no way he gets out of this, so he throws the child away from him, away from the fire, and that’s the last thing he remembers. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> it just still bothers me every time they bring him up, how things ended, you know? So I had to write this. [you can find me here](https://aziraphalescrowley.tumblr.com/)


End file.
